Letter to My Daughter

After a terrible family fight, Laura, the protagonist in a Letter to My Daughter by George Bishop, pens a letter to her runaway daughter Liz. While Laura awaits fifteen year old Liz's return she decides to write her a letter. In short, to tell her daughter the things she always wanted to tell her, but never did. Laura's conversational letter, which spans the length of the novella, is her attempt to share her own tumultuous teenage years during the Vietnam era. As Laura confesses: " If I could speak now to my fifteen-year-old self, I might tell her to be more forgiving of her parents. Maybe they were doing the best they could. It's possible. If adulthood has taught me anything, it's that even grown-ups are fallible. We're not a whole lot smarter than we were at fifteen. We still feel the same stir of emotions, the same awkward human needs and doubts we felt when we were teenagers. Only the shell grows thicker; the inside, the more tender parts, remain surprisingly unchanged. Often - and this is a secret that not many parents will tell their children - often we don't know what the hell we're doing. And so we yell, we shout, we slap our children. We still make mistakes, daughter. Oh yes, all the time." This slender (126 pages), yet riveting novella, can easily be devoured in one sitting. The letter itself is believable as a mother writing to her young daughter. Letter to My Daughter is a compelling and candid coming of age saga of young life and love during the early seventies. Publisher: Ballantine Books (February 16, 2010), 160 pages Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.

This book is a must if you are a daughter, a mother or just someone who has been a teenager. That pretty much says it all! George Bishop writes with such feeling, we have all been there! We start out with a 15 year old who got in a fight with her parents, took off in the car. Now we have mom and dad upset, worried about their daughter. So mom starts writing about her own experiences when she was a teenager, telling her basically we have all been there, we were all teenagers once. The writing was so brilliant, I can't sing enough praises for it. Just brilliant! You feel for Laura and Tim, their relationship nothing more than letters. Young love -- This book just hit everything I am sure everyone has felt at some point - Parents just don't understand, but we adapt and move on. Anything Mr. Bishop ever writes, I will be in line for. Please, RUN out and get your copy on the 16th!!! You won't regret it! Get copies for your mom, sisters, aunts, grandmas, daughters, EVERYONE!

It's hard to believe that a man could write such a beautiful novel, but author George Bishop has created a truly moving story. LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER is just that, a mother's letter to her 15 year-old daughter, who has just stormed off after an argument. The mother, Laura, tells her daughter Liz about her own life as a 15 year-old and the boy she loved, Tim, who was sent to Vietnam. This is a short read, but a profound and emotional one. I can honestly say that I was truly moved by this story, and actually thought it ended much too soon. I would have loved to have read more.

This is one of the best short stories that I have read in a long time. However, I didn't see it as a commentary on a mother/daughter relationship - but rather, I saw this as the story of a young girl struggling through her teenage years in the Vietnam Era. The story is a letter from Laura to her daughter Liz. Liz has run away after an awful fight with her parents in which Laura slapped Liz. While anxiously waiting for her daughter to return, Laura pens a letter - telling her of what she went through when she was Liz's age. Laura starts out by apologizing to Liz for not being the kind of mother that she wanted to be. She then gets in to the story of her youth, starting from when she was 15. Laura's story is heartbreaking and courageous. At 15 years old, she fell in love with a young man, Tim. Her parents did not approve of her relationship and sent her away to Catholic Boarding School. Laura felt estranged from her parents and alone except for her relationship with Tim, which consisted of mostly letters. When Tim enlisted in the Army and was sent to Vietnam, Laura's life starts to change. George Bishop gives Laura a poignant and honest voice. It was hard to believe that this story was written by a man - as it feels like you are reading an autobiography. Laura's character is completely relatable and I can remember feeling many of the things that she felt as a teenager. Laura's letter to Liz is beautiful story of love, loss and family. I highly recommend this book.

It is remarkable to me that a man wrote this. In slightly over 100 pages he manages to capture mother/daughter dynamics quite well, not to mention the difficulty of being a teenage girl. A mother writes a letter to her daughter after she fled the house during an argument. The letter writing was meant to pass time but more important it explains to her daughter what it was like when she was 15 herself. These are truths she has never completely shared with her daughter. This touching letter reveals the reality all mothers and daughters face. When we are teenagers we feel our parents do not have a clue to what makes us tick. This letter helps this mother with realizing she too had the feelings her daughter most likely has. It depicts the feeling of a time in this mothers life with such grace. This is such a gem of a book. I still marvel that a man wrote it. I really liked this book.